No, I'm not talking about soccer, I'm referring instead to "Gridiron Gladiators" Italian-Americans in College, Semipro & Pro Football, Vol. 1: 20s-30s-40s," by Italian author Fausto Batella.
Like my cousin in Sestri Levante, who has played in Italy's American football league, Batella certainly knows more about the game than I do. But his book is such a labor of love -- and no small amount of research -- that his passion for the game is palpable and infectious.
I was excited to read that Peter "Pete" Robotti, who went to Connecticut State, played for the Jersey City Giants. Maybe he was a cousin of mine. His neighbor in the book, Paul Romano, who played for the Akron Bears and Paterson Panthers of the AFL, went to Wisconsin. Long-time Packers star Tony Canadeo is in there, along with his Green Bay teammate Chick Forte.
Across 225 pages, Batella details all the Italian-American players of American football across three decades, listing their schools, their teams and offering biographical information where possible, too.
The book is available from iUniverse, via the link below.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
